Occupy Wall Street Protest Poses a Public-Private Conundrum

Whatever your opinion of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protest, the act itself highlights the importance of public space in cities today. The site of the protest, Zuccotti Park, isn’t actually a park, per se. It’s actually a privately owned public space, typically a concession made to the public by developers in order to obtain zoning approval to build higher or more than the code usually allows. It’s a corporatization of the public square of yore that’s somewhat symbolic of the larger systems the demonstrators are protesting. It also raises some questions about what’s allowable in a public space that’s technically not owned by the public. Legally, it’s a very gray area.

A recent article from the Wall Street Journal reports that the New York Police Department urged the owners of the park not to remove the demonstrators. The NYPD press office declined to comment on the legality of occupying the park, deferring to its owners, Brookfield Office Properties.